Stony Brook researcher wins European inventor award

Stony Brook University researcher Esther Sans Takeuchi has won the 2018 European Inventor Award in the non-European Patent Office countries for developing batteries used in defibrillators.

The European Patent Office gave her the award on June 7 at a ceremony at the Théâtre Alexandre Dumas in Paris attended by 600 guests.

She was honored for developing compact batteries used to power and essentially extend the life of tiny, implantable cardiac defibrillators that detect and correct irregular, potentially fatal heart rhythms.

“Esther Sans Takeuchi’s innovative work on energy storage and power sources is enabling lifesaving technologies that benefit millions of heart patients,” EPO President Benoît Battistelli said in a written statement. “Her developments in the field of battery technology have also made her one of the most prolific U.S. women inventors.”

Takeuchi’s lithium silver vanadium oxide battery extends the amount of time to five years that power is provided for these devices, considerably longer than in the past, reducing the number of surgeries patients need to replace them, according to Stony Brook University.

“Esther’s work is the epitome of innovation, as demonstrated in this breakthrough translational research for which she was recognized by the European Patent Office,” said Dr. Samuel Stanley Jr., president of Stony Brook University and Board chair of Brookhaven Science Associates, which manages Brookhaven National Laboratory. “She continues to follow the science toward the next big, revolutionary idea for energy storage.”

President Barack Obama presents the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Dr. Esther Sans Takeuchi in 2009 in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Takeuchi is Stony Brook University’s William and Jane Knapp Endowed Chair in Energy and the Environment and a distinguished professor of chemistry in the College of Arts & Sciences and in materials Science and chemical engineering in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. She was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Obama in 2009.

“Her invention led not only to an advance in battery chemistry, but also enabled the production and widespread adoption of ICDs (implantable cardioverter defibrillators) and significantly improved patient well-being,” according to a written statement from Stony Brook University.

She holds more than 150 patents, is the chief scientist of the Energy Sciences Directorate at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the only American to bring home this prestigious prize.

“She serves as an exceptional role model for women in science today, while demonstrating the immense advances in human well-being that science and technology can bring about,” Battistelli said.